Update 17/04/24: Please note the Lurgies and Bridge of Dun are still closed due to ongoing repairs following last year’s severe storm damage.
Montrose Basin is an enclosed estuary of the river South Esk covering 750 hectares of tidal mudflats offering feeding and roosting ground to a plethora of bird species.
In autumn and winter, the Basin is home to over 100,000 migratory birds including pink-footed geese, wigeon and a variety of other waterfowl and waders, while during the spring and summer months the estuary supports various breeding colonies including sand martins, common terns and eider.
Our four-star visitor centre offers a great day out for all the family in Angus.
Join today to get free access to all our visitor centres and help protect Scotland’s wildlife for the future.
The visitor centre is open daily, 10:30am-5pm. There are no walks that take place from the visitor centre car park.
Please note that dogs are allowed on the reserve walks, but not inside the visitor centre itself.
Why visit?
The Montrose Basin Visitor Centre offers panoramic views across the reserve. Telescopes and binoculars will be available for you to see the wildlife up close.
We serve hot drinks, and we have a small wildlife-themed gift shop with a variety of products for all ages.
A range of children’s activities are always available in the centre.
Best time to visit?
- May to Sept for fishing osprey
- Oct to Feb for wintering geese
- Sept to Feb for kingfisher
- Any time for seals, wildfowl and waders
Visit for:
- birdwatching
- coasts
- geology
- scenery
- mammals
Other information
Events
Please keep an eye on the events page or our Facebook page for upcoming events.
Discover the Basin with one of our self-guided audio tours
If you would like to learn more about the Basin, our audio tours are a great place to start. Choose from four tours available through izi.TRAVEL. These tours can be accessed online or through the izi.TRAVEL mobile app available for iPhone and Android.
Many people will be familiar with owl pellets; grey-brown plum sized masses of fur, feathers and other indigestible material. You may have even had to dissect a few in biology class. What may not be as well-known is the fact that owls are not the only birds who produce regurgitated packets of glandular stomach contents. Other species such as herons, cormorants, gulls, corvids, shrikes and swallows, amongst others, produce pellets. Common kingfishers (Alcedo atthis) also cough up, or ‘cast’, a…
Now that we’re trying our best to keep warm in the winter months, we thought this would be the perfect time to reflect on this year’s pink-footed goose season. Montrose Basin is one of the best reserves in the country to watch the magical sight of tens of thousands of geese taking off or descending together (best seen at dawn and dusk). What has 2023’s pink-footed goose season been like? 2023’s pink-footed goose season has been a difficult one…
The Montrose Basin Visitor Centre is now open daily again, 10:30am-5pm, just in time for spotting lots of early signs of Spring! It’s only since properly tuning my ear into birdsong that I’ve realised what makes people say “It just feels a bit Spring-like today, doesn’t it?”. It’s hard to put your finger on what exactly makes a day in mid-February suddenly feel not so wintry, even if there’s still frost on the ground. There are a whole host of…
We’re right in the midst of pink-footed goose season at Montrose Basin now, and we’ve been so busy (with geese and visitors) that we haven’t had a chance to keep our blog posts updated with how the numbers have been going this year! We’ve found there are questions we’re happily answering on a daily basis at the visitor centre regarding our pink-footed geese (or ‘pinkies’ as you may find the Montrose Basin team affectionately calling them). So we thought we’d compile…
One of the perks of my seasonal role here at Montrose Basin Visitor Centre is the people I meet and the wealth of knowledge they have regarding various topics and species. I feel very fortunate to be able to learn a little of their craft and hone my own ID skills, and, also, practical ones. One example of this occurred two weeks ago when our local moth recorder, Paul, happened to be setting his traps for the evening. He graciously…
At 5:46pm on 23 May, Loch of the Lowes welcomed their third and final osprey hatchling of the season. Whilst we may not have these spectacular pescatarian raptors nesting on the reserve, we are privileged to be able to witness the fledging of our own feathered friends right here at Montrose Basin. Here are a few species you can expect to see in the coming weeks… Our first to fledge of 2022 has been a Blackbird (Turdus merula) family. We…
Regular visitors to Montrose basin and its visitor centre will be aware that winter is usually an incredible time for spotting kingfishers on the reserve. The famous ‘kingfisher perch’ in front of the centre’s windows has, in the past, been a reliable part of a resident kingfisher’s daily routine. It wasn’t unusual for visitors to Montrose Basin to be guarantees an amazing view of our kingfisher, if visiting at the right time of year. The winter of 2021/22 has strayed…
Autumn at Montrose Basin is always an exciting thing to experience. Wading birds return to the reserve after breeding season, kingfisher sightings increase, and by the end of September, the Basin becomes home to tens of thousands of pink-footed geese. Pink-footed geese migrate from Iceland and Greenland to Scotland in early to mid September, and by the middle of October, Montrose Basin can hold over 10% of the entire Icelandic population at one time! They roost on the reserve every…